How to get rid of aquarium snails forever in your fish tank

Aquarium snails are common in your fish tank and used for the balance of the fish tank. However, they breed very quickly and can quickly become invaded! This article presents some effective tips to limit or get rid of snails in the aquarium.

Snails contribute to the ecological balance of the aquarium by eliminating extra food and algae and stirring the gravel from the bottom which aerates and promote the growth of aquarium live plants. The problem with some variety is that they re-breed very quickly and can factually attack the fish tank. The aquarium snails are then visible on the decor, plants, and their droppings cover up the entire your fish tank. The actual challenge, one understands it fine, is to control the population of snails to profit from their qualities while avoiding the overpopulation.

Snails are mostly introduced into the fish tank by aquarium plants, gravel or decorative items purchased or taken from another bin. The snails are sometimes too small to be seen with the naked eye, or even as small larva, or even a cluster of translucent eggs stuck everywhere. Unless treated with great care before introduction into the fish tank, it is almost usual to introduce snails.

Content of the article

·Know Your Enemy

·Fish-eating snails

·Manual technique

·Do not over-dose fish food!

·Chemical treatments

·Remove Snails

·Control snails with traps and predators

·Prevent snail introductions

·As the last option: complete cleaning

Know Your Enemy

Knowing the appearance and habits of aquarium snails in your fish tank helps you control them. Snails problem causing Ramshorn snails (Planorbis spp.), tadpole snails or pond snails (Physa and Physella spp.) and turret snails (Melanoidestuberculata). Ramshorn snails can be difficult to spot. Their shells are flat and about 1/4 inch wide. Tadpole snails are about 1/2-inch long. Their shells are translucent and bulbous – they lay eggs in gelatinous clusters. Snails are turret up to an inch long and nocturnal, digging in the sand and living in the aquarium gravel. Turret snail shells are tapered and speckled with purple. If there are more than 20 snails from the turret in an aquarium, or you see snail tracks through the fish skin, it’s time to slim down their numbers.

Fish-eating snails

For most situations, this is the way out that will require the least force from you. The results vary according to the type of fish, the fish food you take to it, and the type of snails present in the fish tank. The most popular aquarium snail-eating fish are Malawi cichlids, Gouramis varieties, Bettas varieties, and most Botias including the famous clown loach.

Manual technique

This is simply removing the aquarium snails will come to see. It is the mainly adept and has the benefit of being used immediately. As with garden snails, you can easily attract, gather and catch the snail of the fish tank by leaving a lettuce leaf or spinach, boiled, at the bottom of the aquarium overnight. The next day she should be covered with snails. There are also small snails traps in fish stores that are filled with food and work very effectively.

Do not over-dose fish food!

Snails breed very quickly. Their figure explodes in a few weeks, but they have the property of stabilizing their number according to the food limit they can find. This means in plain language that if you avoid excess feeding yourfish so that there are very few waste after the meal, then the snails will no longer feed, and eventually, their numbers will decrease by the visible way.

Chemical treatments

Chemical treatments are available at most aquarium stores. Although they are extremely useful, these treats are also dangerous for aquarium fish and live plants. And even if they are supposedly not dangerous, the brutal death of all aquarium snails leads to the breakdown of all this natural matter, and the consequences are very harmful to the aquarium with peaks of nitrites. These products can also destroy bacteria colonies in your filter. If using such products, remove residues with activated charcoal after treatment, and especially monitor the progress of water parameters, nitrites, nitrates, ammonium, in the days and weeks that follow.

Remove snails

It may not be possible to remove all the snails from an aquarium, but by regularly taking those you can see you keep them in check. Choose snails from the aquarium glass, plants, gravel, and ornaments. Check the filter and point of sale entry. Do not clean the biological filters because it harms the beneficial bacteria inside. Carefully hollow out the tank gravel and examine it for aquarium snails before returning it to the tank. Do not wash the gravel as this does harm bacteria. You can eliminate plant debris, which feeds on snails. Do not crush the snails in the tank because their rotting bodies will pollute the water.

Prevent snail introductions

When your aquarium snails population is under control, avoid introducing more to your tank. Snails arrive in aquariums on plants and materials from other living tanks. Before adding plants to your aquarium, soak them in a solution of 10 milligrams potassium permanganate to 1 liter of water. This solution controls snails and snail eggs. Ornaments and other materials can be disinfected in the same way. Potassium permanganate and other shellfish control chemicals are harmful to most aquatic animals. Do not use them on fish, shrimp or other aquarium organisms.

Control snails with traps and Predators

You can keep aquarium snails numbers low by using traps and predators. Float a lettuce leaf in your aquarium every night. In the morning, the bottom will be covered in snails, allowing you to remove them. Commercial snail traps attract snails with bait, but snails cannot escape. Used every night, snail traps keep snail populations down. Alternatively, introduce snail predators to your aquarium. Assassin snails (Cleahelena) and fish botias called eat snails. Botias reach a range of sizes, depending on the species. Some snail-eating fish are aggressive and do not live well in communities. Check with your aquarium dealer which fish are the most appropriate for your tank.

As the last option: complete cleaning

As a last option, you can completely redo the aquarium. You have to change or treat and bleach the floor, the decor, the plants, the filter, the windows and all the elements of the aquarium. Snails, their eggs, and their larvae withstand a long time without water and are very difficult to eliminate.

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Aquarium snails are common in your fish tank and used for the balance of the fish tank. However, they breed very quickly and can quickly become invaded! This article presents some effective tips to limit or get rid of snails in the aquarium. Snails contribute to the ecological balance of the aquarium by eliminating extra food and algae and stirring the gravel from the bottom which aerates and promote the growth of aquarium live plants.…